Epigenetic regulation and subsequent gene expression or silencing represents a tightly orchestrated interplay among enzymes responsible for modifying the tails of histones, around which nuclear DNA is wrapped. Among the various modifiers of the histones, the cell is capable of balancing the activity of both histone acetyltransferases (HAT) and histone deacetylases (HDAC) to attach or remove the acetyl group, respectively, from the lysine tails of these histone barrels. This particular epigenetic marker masks the positive lysine residues from interacting closely with the DNA phosphate-backbone, resulting in a more “open” chromatin state, whereas the deacetylases remove these acetyl groups, resulting in a more “closed” or compacted DNA-histone state.
There are currently no selective HDAC6 inhibitors (HDAC6i) approved for oncology purposes. Such molecules would be advantageous as a therapeutic approach for they can result in reduced side effects, which is an apparent problem associated with less selective HDACIs (Zhang et al., “Mice lacking histone deacetylase 6 have hyperacetylated tubulin but are viable and develop normally,” Mol Cell Biol 2008, 28(5):1688-1701). Recent pre-clinical efforts are being directed toward the use of HDAC6i for certain cancers, specifically in combination with known drugs (Santo et al., “Preclinical activity, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacokinetic properties of a selective HDAC6i, ACY-1215, in combination with bortezomib in multiple myeloma,” Blood 2012, 119(11):2579-2589). HDACIs can be useful as possible therapeutics for melanoma; however, studies to date have focused on using pan-HDACIs, such as suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) (Peltonen et al., “Melanoma cell lines are susceptible to histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA provoked cell cycle arrest and apoptosis,” Pigment Cell Res 2005, 18(3):196-202; Facchetti et al., “Modulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic factors in human melanoma cells exposed to histone deacetylase inhibitors,” Apoptosis 2004, 9(5):573-582). While SAHA exhibits activity against all Zn-dependant HDAC isozymes, it has been approved solely for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (Wagner et al., “Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in recent clinical trials for cancer therapy,” Clinical Epigenetics 2010, 1(3-4):117-136). It has previously been reported that HDAC6 forms an association with HDAC11 (Gao et al., “Cloning and functional characterization of HDAC11, a novel member of the human histone deacetylase family,” J Biol Chem 2002, 277(28):25748-25755). Recent efforts have begun to uncover the biological significance of HDAC11 as a participant in activating the immune response and targeting one or both of these enzymes is of therapeutic value (Villagra et al., “The histone deacetylase HDAC11 regulates the expression of interleukin 10 and immune tolerance,” Nat Immunol 2009, 10(492-100; Wang et al., “Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor LAQ824 Augments Inflammatory Responses in Macrophages through Transcriptional Regulation of IL-10,” J Immunol 2011, 186(7):3986-3996). Thus, HDAC6 has emerged as a target in the treatment of melanoma and other cancers. Such an approach can be devoid of the cytotoxic properties of the pan-HDACi's and thus of value in the context of safer cancer therapeutics (Parmigiani et al., “HDAC6 is a specific deacetylase of peroxiredoxins and is involved in redox regulation,” Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 2008, 105(28):9633-9638). What are needed then are new and selective HDAC6 inhibitors and methods of making and using them to treat various cancers as well as to augment various tumor immune responses. The compositions and methods disclosed herein address these and other needs.